Injury and inflammation are central components of a variety of pathophysiologic states, such as sepsis, trauma, hemorrhage, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, arthritis and atherosclerosis. The biology of injury and inflammation shares many common themes across disease states. While trauma was initially deemed to be the realm of the surgeon, arthritis the purview of the rheumatologist, and atherosclerosisthe focus for the cardiologist, these processes merely represent specific examples of injury with an accompanying host inflammatory response. Indeed, the molecular and cellular basis for many of these disorders are highly analogous. These biological questions are sufficiently complex that sophisticated techniques in immunology, ceil biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology are required. Crossing the boundaries of traditional scientific and clinical disciplines to address these issues of injury and inflammation will require that future researchers are trained in a multi-disciplinary environment with the opportunity for cross fertilization of ideas and technologies. The purpose of this training grant in the Biology of Injury and Inflammation is to provide postdoctoral research training in the cellular and molecular biology of clinical states typified by trauma, sepsis, ischemia/reperfusion, acute and chronic inflammation, and/or critical illness. We are proposing to support 4 total trainees per year. Each trainee will spend at least two years as a postdoctoral research fellow. This application represents a multidisciplinary research training program which draws from the basic science departments of Immunology, Biochemistry, Genetics, and Biomedical Engineering, as well as the clinical departments of Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Surgery. Although this grant will be housed in the Duke Dept. of Surgery, applications from interested individuals in Anesthesiology, Medicine or the basic sciences are welcome. The central intent of this program is to train future scientists in the Biology of Injury and Inflammation. It is our goal to capitalize upon the scientific opportunities and resources available through Duke University by training future leaders in the biology of injury and inflammation.